Exploring: Segovia and Madrid

Hola todos!

It's been a busy couple of days. A group of Middlebury students went to Segovia on Thursday. It's a town in the mountains, about an hour north. I had no idea I was in for such a treat. It was so picturesque, just amazing! There's a 2000 year old roman aqueduct, a medieval cathedral and a castle! among other things. The whole town was adorable. I had my first "cafe manchado" which is more milk and less coffee than the 50/50 "cafe con leche". I'm not much of a coffee drinker because it tends to be too strong and bitter for me, but not this stuff! My new favorite thing is cafe manchado. It is so smooth! And not too strong, and absolutely not bitter at all. I had no idea coffee could be so good. The cool thing is that it's the same everywhere. I can go anywhere throughout Madrid, throughout Spain even, and get the same cafe con leche and it will be just as good everywhere. Anyway, we walked all over Segovia (you can walk the entire town in an hour or two) enjoying all the little shops, cobblestone pathways and the fact that every single wall had a different design on it. If I can return I definitely will, it was one of the most beautiful places I've seen, I absolutely loved it.

I woke up Saturday to sun coming into my room - the first time that has happened since I arrived, so I decided it was a day to go out and explore! I was already in a good mood as my luggage arrived that morning, and the day just got better from there. I walked the streets around my house and found a cute little park (big enough for me to go running) called Parque Berlin. Then I took the metro up north and ran into these huge buildings called "Los Torres" but other than that didn't find anything that looked too interesting other than a cafe called D'Alex (clearly, I had to go in). I went in and ordered the daily menu ("Menu del dia" is offered every day for the lunch hour - you order a first and second plate, and they give you bread, a drink of your choice and a dessert, they're usually around 9 or 10 euros) - I chose cannelloni for my first course and steak with french fries for the second, and a cafe manchado to finish it all off! The owner immediately welcomed me and helped me out with the menu (I can speak Spanish ok and understand everything, but I'm still lacking in food vocabulary). She brought me a little plate of paella since I've never had it before, and it was pretty good! Then she and her daughter talked to me for about a half an hour about all the places I can go in Madrid and what's worth seeing. I live up north, and I went even farther north, where there's nothing really. The heart of the city and the oldest parts are all to the south of my house (ie an hour by metro from where I was at the moment). Her daughter (Elena) offered to drive me down to "Sol" / the center and show me around, of course I took her up on her offer! We sped around the streets of Madrid and I feared for my life until I found out she was a driving school teacher! Ironic...anyway, it was a very nice gesture and when she dropped me off I went exploring! I was in the "Plaza de Espana" which is one of the main squares, and made my way by "El Palacio Real" (beautiful and huge palace right in the center of everything) and up to "Opera" which is a fancy shmancy neighborhood where there are street performers. Unfortunately my camera died by then, but it was pretty cool! All in all it was a great day. And today I finally unpacked my bags! I hung out with my host parents and gave them some chocolates from the US (Dagoba lavender/blueberry, Ghiradelli peppermint bark) and marionberry jam from Oregon. We talked about wine (Miguel is a big wine person, and he's diabetic...wish I had brought some wine instead of so much chocolate!) and Angela showed me how to make "paella valenciana" (valencia is where paella originated-the east coast of spain). We made it with fish (muscles, shrimp etc) but you can make it with all different kinds of meat. It was so good! And my classes with Middlebury start tomorrow!

Some things I've noticed: 1 - all the old women here are at least a foot shorter than me, and all walk around with big fur coats on. 2 - every store here plays American music, whether it's selling clothes or food or medicine, it's playing American music, and people know the songs, although probably don't understand them. 3 - the young people here are crazy. I went out with friends both Friday and Saturday night, and bars don't get going till 11, they close at 3am and then everyone flocks to the "discotecas" and dances until 6. The metro closes from 1am to 6am, so if you party for long enough you can get home via metro! We went out with some "madrilenos" last night and it was my first time really getting to know some locals. They are great! Very nice and fun to be around. The down side: smoking is permitted in every bar/club thus my clothes REEK of smoke. 4 - most of the bars here are cafes by day and serve "churros con chocolate" and "cafe", and become bars by night serving drinks and tapas, so they're essentially open 24/7, it's pretty fun to sit at a bar and sip on coffee while admiring the shelves of alcohol...definitely a different experience.

Anyway, I'm having a wonderful time. Angela continues to move my things around, the students in my program are really nice and I'm getting to know them better, and Madrid is beautiful, full of life, and culturally amazing.

Hasta luego,
~Alejandra

PS-the picture uploader is being weird so we'll see if these worked...
ok, there is the palace in madrid, the cathedral and aqueduct in segovia, and paella. if you have a facebook, look at my photos because i can upload a lot more there!